Trapeze
by Perfectly-Imperfect1996
Summary: Duke's little sister, Leila, is back in Haven after years away. She's got a secret she's not eager to tell and a past she's trying to fix. But she soon finds out Haven has changed since she left. She's dropped into the town she grew up in with a whole mess of things she doesn't understand, including what her role is in getting everything back to normal Nathan/OC
1. Chapter 1

Leila POV

"Um excuse me?" I called. There were people everywhere and no one was paying attention to me. "Hello? Is the owner of that boat even here?" I sighed before pushing past a couple of police officers. Finally I saw him. "Duke!" I ran at him and gave him a hug.

"Whoa!" He said surprised. I pulled back and grabbed my shoulders. "Leila? What are you doing here?" He hugged me again before I had the chance to answer. A blonde I'd never seen before walked up next to him. She looked at us looking pretty confused.

"Oh my gosh, is this your girlfriend?" I asked.

"No!" The both answered at the same time.

"Well your question clears up my assumption that _you_ were Duke's girlfriend," the blonde said. I laughed. "Long lost cousin? Childhood friend?"

"Little sister," I said smiling. "Leila Crocker, nice to meet you."

"You have a sister named _Leila_?" The blonde asked looking at Duke skeptically.

"Often times in my life I wondered why I ended up with a name like Duke and she ended up with Leila," Duke said rubbing his chin.

I rolled my eyes. "Our parents loved me more."

Duke snorted. "That's true enough."

"Anyways, now that I've introduced myself, who are you?" I asked.

"Oh right. Audrey Parker, I'm new to town," she said.

"She's a police officer," Duke said in a stage whisper.

"You're friends with a cop?" I asked surprised.

"I know. I'm not sure how it happened either."

I glanced around again at the cops walking around. "What happened?" Knowing my brother I was sure he was the reason behind it.

"It's a long story," Audrey said.

"Haven is a whole series of long stories," I said. I glanced behind Audrey at another familiar face. "Nathan!" Audrey stepped out of the way and I gave Nathan a huge hug.

"What are you doing here? I heard you were in Europe," he said.

"I was! But after a couple of years I started missing my brother and my town and I just had to come home."

"Seriously, why are you here?" Duke asked me.

"Am I not allowed to miss my big brother?" I asked.

"You are, but I know that's not the reason why you're here."

"Well technically you're right. I'm here to write a book, but that's only the official reason. My publisher wouldn't let me come back very long if I didn't tell her I was going to write another book." Duke was still looking at me suspiciously; I was going to get the third degree later.

"A book?" Audrey asked, preventing Duke from making another comment.

"Leila is a journalist, she's been traveling all over writing for travel magazines and she's written some books too," Nathan said.

"Well someone has been keeping tabs on me," I said, grinning.

"I've never read anything you've written though," he said quickly.

I laughed. "At least you're honest." I glanced at Duke.

"What was that look for? I never said I read your book! I told you I was using it as a paper weight and I am!" He said throwing his hands up.

"I never would have figured you two were related," Audrey said. "Besides the hair, you don't look anything alike."

I shrugged. "Probably for the best. Could you imagine me if I looked like Duke?"

"What's that supposed to mean? I like my face!" Duke said. "At least you got my stellar personality."

Audrey, Nathan and I all scoffed. "I think that Leila is Duke's opposite in pretty much every single way," Nathan said.

"Thank god," I said.

"Excuse me; is this pick on Duke day?" My brother asked.

"Every day is pick on Duke day, get used to it." I smiled. "I'm back!"

"Speaking of which, where are you planning on staying?" He asked.

"On your boat," I mumbled.

"On my boat?" He asked.

"Oh that sounds like an excellent idea!" I said. "I'll run and grab my bags." I turned away and heard Duke grumble something about falling for that trick every time.

It was good to be home.

OoOoO

Later on Duke's boat I was unpacking some of my bags. "When are you moving out?" He asked me.

I rolled my eyes. "I just got here. Can you give me at the very least a full day to find a new place?" I asked.

"Why are you back, Leila?"

"I told you. I missed Haven." I turned back to my last suitcase and tried to figure out if I wanted to fool with unpacking it.

"No one misses Haven."

"Maybe you didn't, but I did." He didn't say anything but he also didn't leave me alone either. I decided I might as well try to figure out what had been happening since I'd been gone. "So, Nathan and Audrey?"

"What about them?"

"Are they a thing?" I asked.

He laughed. "Why do you want to know?"

"Why are my motives in question today? I was going to ask if you'd make me some waffles but you'll probably have to interrogate me." I put on my best Duke voice, "Why do you want sugary breakfast food? Why do you want _me_ to make them?" He glared at me.

"Are you done?"

I continued on, "But whatever, I'll just ask Audrey about Nathan when we got get coffee later. I was just trying to make sure I wasn't going to be stepping on any toes."

"You are Audrey already made coffee plans?" Duke asked.

"Yeah, I want to know more about the new girl."

"Can I come?"

"Why would you want to come?" I asked, turning the tables on him. He shrugged in response. "We're probably going to talk about shoes or something." At Duke's skeptical look I laughed. "Ok probably not, we'll probably just talk about you. I'm sure she has plenty to say about you. I know I do."

"That's what I'm worried about."

"Oh! You like Audrey."

He stared at me for a minute. "You've been here an hour or something? I will never understand how you can just look at me and know what I'm thinking."

"It's just because I know you so well, it's not because I'm troubled or anything," I said a little more defensively than I meant to.

"I wasn't saying– never mind." His phone rang and it looked down at it. "I need to take this." He walked out onto deck and I started walking around. I grabbed a sticky pad and started making notes for my book; I stuck one on an old table and another on the lamp. I continued walking around sticking notes up until I was in a semi-circle of colors. I tended to write in 3D, the more space my thoughts took up the more information I could process. Duke walked back inside and looked around. "My boat has neon orange, pink and yellow spots."

"They're notes for my book."

"You're writing your book about Haven?" He asked. I nodded. "You can't write a book about Haven."

"Why not?"

"Do I even have to answer that question? You know why."

My eyes widened. "You mean they're back?"

"Yeah, they are." He tilted his head looking confused. "You didn't know?"

"No, of course not." It wasn't exactly a lie, I hadn't known for sure.

"I just assumed that was why you were back."

"Well it's not. If you don't mind, I think I'm going to change clothes."

"Do you and Audrey want to come by The Grey Gull instead? You look like you're starving. I'll make those waffles you wanted."

"Ok, that sounds good. I'll call her."

OoOoO

A few hours later Audrey and I were sitting at the bar in Duke's restaurant eating waffles. Mine were smothered in syrup and he had tossed in some chocolate chips, they were absolutely delicious. "Ok you got me; I'm not really back because I missed you. I'm back because I missed these," I told him.

"I knew it!" He said. We both laughed and Audrey just shook her head.

"One thing you'll learn about Duke and me, we're perpetually kids when we hang out," I told her.

"I can see that."

"Are you going to ask her that question you were asking about earlier?" Duke asked, not at all subtly.

"We've been sitting here for," I glanced at my phone "exactly twelve and a half minutes."

"What?" Audrey asked.

"Leila was wondering if you were dating Nathan," Duke said. I stuck a bite of waffle in my mouth so I wouldn't be expected to speak. Audrey just laughed.

"At the rate you're going, you're going to have rumors going that I'm dating half the town," Audrey said. I shrugged.

"Audrey doesn't have any friends, besides me and Nathan," Duke said.

"What does that have to do with anything?" I asked around my bite of waffle.

"I have friends!" Audrey snapped. "Leila is friends with me."

"Watch out for that one, she's not nearly as sweet as Nathan made her seem."

"Hey!" I said.

Duke laughed and put his hands up in surrender. "I'm going to go check on the paying customers."

"Sorry about him," I said.

"That's alright, I've gotten to know him pretty well since I've been here."

"No one knows Duke very well," I said. I shook my head, "I'm glad he's playing nice."

"I don't know if that's exactly how I'd describe what Duke's doing, but I don't hate him."

"Well that's a step up from how most people feel."

"So why did you ask about Nathan?" Audrey asked. It took me a second to remember she was new and hadn't been around before I'd left.

"Oh, we were really good friends," I said casually.

"They dated for years," Duke said, running by.

"Go away Duke," I called after him.

"It's my restaurant," he yelled back.

I sighed and looked back at Audrey. "Yeah, I dated him for a while." I glanced back around to see if Duke was going to pop out of nowhere and make another comment.

"And you still like him?" She asked curious.

"I mean-" Duke walked past me again but didn't say anything this time. I shrugged in response to Audrey's question.

"Well he's just my partner and we're friends," she assured me.

I nodded. "So, you and Duke are friends," I said. "Have you thought about going on a date with him? He makes really good waffles."

"Me and Duke? No way. Could you imagine that?" She shook her head.

I shrugged. "I could see it."

She looked at me. "I can't decide which angle you're coming at with this. Either you really want to set me up with your brother, or you want me out of your way with Nathan."

"Seriously, why does everyone think I have some ulterior motive? Can I not just ask questions?" I sighed dramatically which made Audrey laugh. "I'm going to get a drink." I walked around the bar and looked for something I wanted. "Want anything?" She shook her head.

"You moved out of Haven before the troubles started, didn't you?" She asked.

"Yeah, the last time they happened I was six."

She looked conflicted about telling me something. Finally she said, "you know about Nathan's trouble don't you?" Duke saw me behind the bar and walked over.

"His is back too?" I asked. She nodded. "What triggered it?"

She shook her head. "I don't know, he hasn't told me." I glanced at Duke who had grabbed my glass out of my hand was and was busily making me a drink.

"Do you know, Duke?" I asked. He glanced at me before looking back down and what he was doing.

"Why would I know? Nathan and I aren't exactly close." I watched him make my drink but he didn't say anything. I took my glass and sat back down and he disappeared again.

"Well that was weird," Audrey said.

"That's Duke for you."

Audrey's phone rang and she checked it. "Work call, I should go. This was fun?" She laughed.

"Maybe we shouldn't hang out with my brother next time," I said.

"Want me to tell Nathan to call you?" She asked teasingly.

"No!" I said embarrassed. "I'll go see him, later or something," I mumbled.

"My lips are sealed," she said. She waved as she walked out.


	2. Chapter 2

_**Just in case you were wondering this story starts in Season 1, the last chapter took place directly following "The Trial of Audrey Parker"**_

_**Also I have a Tumblr where I post inspiration for all my stories, so if you want to check that out go to stories-inspire (the link is at the top of my profile) and click on the page in the side bar that says "Trapeze" :)**_

* * *

I waited for Duke to get back to his boat for what felt like forever. I was sure he had decided that everything in the restaurant needed to be spotless and that it had to be done today, the day that I wanted to talk to him. Typical.

Finally I heard him coming up. "Hey," I said. I must have scared him because he took a step back.

"What's up?" He asked casually walking past me. I grabbed his arm.

"Can we talk?" I asked.

"You know I've had a long day, can we talk tomorrow?" He asked pulling his arm away.

"Why did you look so guilty earlier?" I asked ignoring him.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Duke, I know your face just as well as I know my own. Probably better since I can't exactly look at my own expressions. I know when you look guilty."

"I don't even remember what you and Audrey were talking about."

"Let me refresh your memory. We were talking about how Nathan's trouble was triggered."

"I told you I didn't know."

"And now you're lying to me. What did you do?" I asked.

"Why do you just assume I did something?"

"Because I know you!"

"I probably shouldn't tell you, Nathan might not-"

"You probably should, before I push you off this boat."

"Remember how I said you weren't that sweet and you disagreed with me? Here's your proof."

"Duke, what happened?"

He sighed in defeat. "Ok fine. When I moved back to Haven I invited Nathan to go fishing with me. I was smuggling and I thought that if I got caught Nathan could just flash his badge and I'd get out of it. He found out, saying he was mad is probably the understatement of the year. We got in a fight, and at some point he realized he couldn't feel it."

"Really, Duke?"

"I knew you would be upset, that's why I didn't want to tell you."

"Obviously I was going to be upset." I wasn't really sure what to say so I walked off the boat.

"Where are you going?" He called.

"I don't know, anywhere else."

"You don't have a car," he said.

"Damn it," I said remembering.

"Want to go to Rosemary's?" He asked. "I'll buy you whatever you want."

"Fine."

"Come on, get in."

"I can't believe you still drive this thing," I grumbled. I sat in the passenger seat with a sigh.

"How long are you going to be mad at me?" He asked.

"Depends," I said.

"On?"

"How many cookies are you going to buy me?"

"You realize you are incredibly easy to win over don't you? Also if you start eating Rosemary's cookies everyday you're going to get fat."

"Thanks, dad. I'll try to remember that as I eat all that delicious baked goodness."

"I'm just saying."

"Would you shut up and drive?"

OoOoO

An hour later we were sitting in Duke's car with cookies. "A dozen is a nice number."

"I get one of those, right?" He asked. I shook my head. I opened the box and saw an oatmeal raisin cookie on top. I made a face. "I knew you wouldn't want that one." He snatched it and took a bite.

"Ugh, cheater." He pulled onto the street and started driving back to the boat. He turned onto another street by the water and parked. "What are you doing?"

"I have to make a quick stop to talk to someone." He hopped out of the car and I walked towards another parked car. I watched the meeting even though I couldn't hear anything. Both Duke and the guy he was meeting did not look at all happy to see the other. Finally Duke got back into the car.

"What was that all about?" I asked. He shrugged. "Seriously, are we going to go through this again?"

"I'm in trouble. That guy's boss thinks I stole from them. I didn't but, that doesn't really matter to them."

"Let me help," I said.

"What are you going to do, sass them to death?" He asked. He was trying to joke but he sounded totally humorless.

"No, really, I can help." He looked over at me. "I'm troubled." The car screeched to a halt.

"No you aren't."

I stared at him. "I'm pretty sure that I would know if I was troubled."

"They don't run in our family," Duke told me.

"How do you know? Maybe mom was troubled, maybe it skipped you. Maybe I'm not your sister."

"No."

"Just because you keep saying no, doesn't mean it's going to go away."

"You're my sister."

"Then listen to me. When I was in Portugal weird things started happening, lights started breaking, and stuff started moving around. _That's_ the real reason I came back."

"I knew there was something. What triggered it?"

"That's the weird thing, nothing happened. I was perfectly content, and then one day I was breaking things and freaking everyone out. I don't know what it is either, sometimes it works other times noting happens. It's not the same thing every time. I'm extra troubled."

"That's insane," was all he said.

"Yeah, it is. You have to let me help you."

"Absolutely not. No one can know about you. Promise me you won't tell anyone, until we figure this out." I started to say something and he cut me off. "Not even Audrey or Nathan."

"Fine, I don't have to use my trouble. But if you go in there trying some crappy Duke plan you're going to get yourself killed."

"Since when are my plans crappy?" He asked offended.

"Do you really need a list?" I asked.

"Ok, in the past I will admit I have done some pretty stupid things. I've changed."

OoOoO

When we got back to Duke's boat to start planning Nathan was waiting outside. "What a pleasant surprise," Duke said sarcastically.

"Be nice," I said quietly. I pinched his arm.

"What can I do for you officer," Duke said. I rolled my eyes.

"I know you sold boat parts to James and Andy," Nathan said.

"And?" Duke asked.

"They caused the boat to go down."

"Whoa! No, I don't sell the important stuff. There's no way anything I gave them caused that crash. But I might be able to tell you who did sell them those parts."

"Who?" Nathan asked.

"Oh well, you see, my memory is a little fuzzy right now. It would clear right up if you helped me and Leila out with a little problem."

"What?" I asked Duke.

"I have a plan," he said smiling.

OoOoO

"This is a horrible idea," Nathan said I said at the same time.

"No, it'll work," Duke said. "And it's good for both of us. I get free of Stoney and you get to arrest a counterfeiter."

"What do I get?" I asked.

"You get to have your big brother around for a while longer." I rolled my eyes but nodded. Nathan didn't look too convinced.

"Do you remember when you and your friends stuck tacks in my back and sent me to meet a girl? I didn't feel them, but she saw them. She ran away screaming. I didn't talk to another girl for two years."

"I remember that. I was friends with her younger sister," I said.

"Are you going to let me die because of that?" Duke asked. Nathan actually looked like he was considering it, after an uncomfortable pause he finally shook his head.

"Ok, so, what do I do?" I asked.

"Sit inside and make sure Nathan doesn't get himself killed," Duke said.

"I'm _backup_?" I asked.

"I'm not taking any chances with you." He gave me a look that said drop it.

"I hate to agree with him but Duke is right," Nathan said.

I groaned. "In case you two haven't noticed, I'm not a kid anymore. I can, in fact, take care of myself. But this time, I guess you can do it by yourself."

"Alright then, it's settled we'll meet at The Grey Gull tomorrow," Duke said. We both watched Nathan drive off in his blue truck and as soon as I couldn't see him any more I turned to face Duke.

"I want to tell him!" I said.

"What part of no don't you understand?"

"I'm not your responsibility anymore, Duke."

"You may not be my responsibility, but you're still my sister. I don't want anything happening to you."

"Eventually you're going to have to get over the fact that I grew up too."

OoOoO

The next day we met Nathan at The Grey Gull and Nathan reluctantly handed Duke his badge and gun. Duke went to get out of the way so Stoney would see him when it was time for the meeting. I sat down at the table with Nathan, we still had a little bit of time and I didn't want to go hide in the bar just yet. His legs were stretched out next to mine and I started tapping my foot on his leg without thinking.

After a moment he said, "Are you tapping my leg?" I nodded. "I can't feel it."

"I know," I said quietly. "Audrey told me," I told him.

"Oh."

"How did you know?" I asked after we'd both been quiet for a minute.

"What?" He asked.

"That I was tapping your leg, if you can't feel it?"

"You used to do it before. I joked that you should learn how to play the drums or something, remember?"

"I'm marching to the beat of my own drum," I said, smiling.

He laughed. "That's so corny." This time the silence between us was much more comfortable. "How was Europe?"

"Beautiful. The history is amazing; we don't have anything like that over here. I could have stayed there forever."

"Why didn't you?" He asked.

I opened my mouth to tell him, and then shut it as soon as I remembered what Duke had said. "I don't know," I said finally. I looked out over the water. "I really did miss Haven though; Duke doesn't believe me when I say that." We both looked at the view. "I missed you," I said quietly.

"I missed you too." I started to say something else but he stood up. "They're here, you should go."

I nodded. "Yeah." I turned around and then looked back at him. "Be careful," I said before disappearing inside. I watched through the window but I couldn't hear anything. I decided that being backup was the most boring thing I could possibly be, which had probably been the idea. I jumped when Duke appeared at the window grinning, I must have dozed off.

"Some backup you are, what if we'd needed you out there?" He asked when he opened the door.

"Don't give me such a boring job if you don't want me to fall asleep," I said. "Did Nathan leave?"

"He had to take Stoney in."

"You told him what he needed to know about the ship parts?" I checked. He nodded. "And did you apologize to him?"

"For what?" He asked.

"The tacks."

"Yes, mom." He shook his head. "I have to admit he did pretty nice job of not dying or majorly messing up that plan."

I faux-gasped. "Did you just compliment Nathan Wuornos? I never thought I'd see the day."

"One time I said that the two of you two made a nice couple," he reminded me.

"No, your exact words were "Unfortunately, you and Nathan work out, you make him cooler. I guess." really, you said that."

"I did, didn't I? My bad."

"How long are you two going to hate each other?"

"We don't hate each other, at least not anymore." At my skeptical look he added, "I invited him for drinks!"

"I'm impressed."

"You're coming right? I don't want to talk to him by myself."

"You do realize that of the two of us you're the one who hasn't grown up yet, right?"

He pushed me backwards and I shoved him, I must have pushed harder than I planned on because he bumped into one of the tables. A glass fell off and even though I wasn't close enough to grab it my reflex was to reach for it. The crash of the glass breaking never came.

"Leila." I looked at the glass which was floating a few feet off the floor. I raised my still outstretched hand and the glass rose up to table level where Duke grabbed it. "It was floating."

"I told you. I can do stuff."

"I thought you couldn't control it."

"I mean, I guess, I'm a little better at it than I let on."

"This is bad."


	3. Chapter 3

Duke didn't talk to me much until Nathan showed up and even then I mostly sat there while they talked about guy stuff. Duke was doing perfectly fine avoiding me; I didn't see his point in asking me to come along anyways. Then he stood up and started to walk away. "If you're going inside could you get me a refill?" I called after him. I sighed after he was out of earshot. "I'm never getting that refill, he's gone."

"Typical Duke," Nathan said. I ran my finger around the edge of my empty glass and watched the ocean for a minute.

"I'm glad I left Haven, it makes me like it more now that I'm back."

"You never wanted to be here when we were kids."

"When I was really little Haven was everything I needed, then I started reading." I smiled. "Did you know Duke wanted me to leave more than I wanted to?"

"Why?"

"I don't know. I probably wouldn't have gone if he hadn't been pushing me to. I definitely wouldn't have left things with you the way I did."

He shook his head. "We were kids. That was a long time ago."

"Yeah , you're right." I decide to change the subject. "How have things been in Haven?"

"Boring, up until a little while ago at least."

"How's your dad?"

"Oh, he was asking if you were going to stop by the police station and see him."

"Yeah, of course." I took a breath. "Nathan, there's something I need to tell you." I glanced back at the restaurant and Duke was watching me.

"What is it?"

"Never mind." I paused unsure what to say now. "I just missed you."

"You've said that already." He smiled.

"Yeah, well, don't let it get to your head." I looked back to the window but Duke was gone.

"We should have dinner together some time," he suggested. "At a restaurant your brother doesn't own."

"That sounds nice," I said.

"Leila! I need some help in here!" Duke called.

"I don't work here!" I yelled back.

"You're living on my boat; you need to pay rent somehow."

I stood up and sighed. "Looks like I have to go." Nathan stood up and gave me a hug, I was surprised. "You can't feel this," I said, like I needed to remind him.

"You can." I smiled and hugged him back.

"Leila, help!" Duke called again.

"Ugh," I groaned stepping away. "See you around." He waved and walked off. I stayed on the deck until he'd gone.

"Oh my god-" Duke started again.

"I'm coming, Duke. Shut up!" I snapped, turning around. Duke motioned me impatiently back inside and I just rolled my eyes before following him. Sometimes I just had to admit defeat and let him boss me around; he had a major older sibling complex.

OoOoO

The next day I mostly stayed on the boat. I spent the whole time practicing with my trouble. To start with I had to make big gestures and pantomime what I wanted to do with the object, which got obnoxious really fast.

The more I practiced the less I had to use gestures until eventually I could keep my hands and my sides and just make subtle finger movements. Then I decided to try something else, I looked around for something soft and unbreakable. I grabbed the pillow from my bed and sat it in front of me. I stared at it and tried to urge it to rise without moving a muscle. Nothing happened. I sighed and sat down on the floor in front of it cross legged.

I sighed and gave it a little nudge into the air with my finger. Once it was floating I closed my fist and stared at the pillow, trying to hold it there with my mind. I kept it up for ten seconds before it collapsed on the floor, the next time thirty, I kept going until I could keep it up for as long as I wanted to and could move around. As long as I kept it in a corner of my mind I could do other things and still keep it floating, if I let it slip then it would fall down.

I grabbed a few more pillows and started trying to float them all. It was harder, I had to be able to focus on all of them but the more I worked at it the more I could do. Soon I switched the pillows out for cups and other more fragile items, I was careful to stay focused on them and not let them fall and I only floated them a few inches above the counter.

My phone rang in the other room. I smiled to myself and started thinking about bringing it to me. It floated into the room and into my hand. I glanced at caller ID, Nathan. The cups dropped to the counter, I managed to catch one of them before it rolled off and fell on the floor. "Hey, Nathan," I said flipping my phone open.

"You alright? You sound a little out of breath."

"Oh, I almost broke a glass when the phone rang. I had to catch it."

He laughed. "I was wondering if you could call Audrey and check on her. She was supposed to go rest but, well you know Audrey." I didn't really, but I just went along with it.

"Sure, I'll give her a call."

"Thanks. I have to go; I'll talk to you later."

"Bye." I hung up and then scrolled through my contacts for Audrey's number. She answered on the first ring.

"Oh thank god, I think I'm going to go crazy here," she groaned.

"What happened to you?" I asked.

"Nathan sent me back to the B&B to sleep, but I can't."

"Want to come over? I was going to make pasta or something."

"If you don't mind, that would be great."

"Its fine, come on."

"Thanks." She hung up and I got to work pulling things out. I never realized how long it took me to make something when I only had two hands. I was flying through making the tomato sauce, literally. Tomatoes and knives and pots dances around and all I had to do was not let myself get distracted. I felt like the fairy godmother from Cinderella or something. The noodles were boiling on the stove and the sauce was cooking in less than fifteen minutes, I think that's probably a new record.

I took a taste of the sauce and decided it needed a little more spice. I pulled out one of the drawers and lifted the basil and oregano jars out. They were just about to reach me when the door opened. I squealed and almost dropped the jars but managed to keep them floating low. "Audrey, you're here!"

"Did I scare you? Sorry."

"I made spaghetti, it's almost done." She had stepped in between me and the two spice jars and they were now floating behind her. I tried to figure out how I was going to get them to me without her noticing them.

"Anything I can help with?" She asked. "I've been doing nothing all day, seriously give me something to do."

"You can get some glasses out from the cabinet over there." I pointed across the room. I was so tense that I must have moved the spice jars without thinking, they flew towards the cabinet. My eyes widened and she followed my gaze. I dropped the jars out of the air and they fell on the ground with a clink but thankfully didn't break. She whirled back around to look at me.

"Leila, those jars were floating."

"No they weren't. The must have fallen," I said quickly.

"From where, the invisible shelf in the middle of the room?" She asked. "You're troubled." I shook your head. "Don't deny it, I saw it. There's no one else on this boat."

"You weren't supposed to get here so early!" I snapped. My heart was beating really fast and I stumbled a little. "Crap."

"What?"

"I'll be fine; I just need to sit down." I just plopped down on the floor and leaned against the cabinet. I fanned my face; it felt unusually hot all of a second. "Why is this happening? I wanted to tell you and Nathan, I shouldn't be having a panic attack over this," I murmured to myself. I tried to take a few slow deep breaths and get my breathing under control before I hyperventilated. I had been having panic attacks for years. By now they had become easier to deal with though I still had them unexpectedly, like now for instance. Audrey brought me some water and waited until I finally spoke. "Sorry, I don't know why that happened."

"I used to know a girl in one of my foster homes who had panic attacks; she hardly ever knew when they were going to happen."

"Yeah. I wanted to tell you about my trouble but Duke wouldn't let me. That was probably what caused it, Duke got me so worked up about it that I panicked when you found out." I jumped up quickly. "The sauce!" I pulled it off the stove quickly and tasted it. It hadn't burned thankfully and I went and grabbed the jars and stirred a little pinch of both spices into the pot.

"I'll grab some plates and we can talk about everything," Audrey said. She got the plates and sat them in front of me and I scooped out some noodles and sauce. We both sat down at the table and took a bite at the same time.

"This is really good," she said.

"Thanks," I mumbled.

"You can control your trouble," Audrey said.

I nodded. "Yeah. That's not normal is it?"

"Not really, most people we find don't even know about their trouble. Your trouble doesn't seem very…" She paused.

"Troubling?" I filled in. She nodded. "It's not. I mean it was weird at first, things would float around or a light would blow out. But now that I can control it it's not bad."

"That's unusual too."

"Yeah, I know. I think that's why Duke didn't want me to tell anyone. Being different isn't exactly a good thing in this town."

"But if you can control yours then maybe there's hope other people can control theirs," Audrey said.

"I guess."

"You could help them; teach them how to control it."

"Everyone has a different trouble; I wouldn't know how to teach someone how to use theirs. The same things I did won't work for everyone."

"Don't you want to help people?" She asked.

"Of course I do. I just don't think I can help them the way you want me to." She still looked hopeful. "I could try, maybe."

"We could bring you in as a contractor; say you're working with the police because you know so much town history."

"What about Nathan?" I asked.

"We'd have to tell him," Audrey said.

"I want to, but not yet," I said. "I need to figure out how I want to tell him. Then I'll work with you."

"Yeah, sure."

I smiled. "Ok, I'm in. But I'm going to need a house. I cannot deal with living with my brother for a second longer."

"Do you want me to go look at houses with you tomorrow?" She asked.

"Yeah, that would be great."

She cleaned her plate. "Do you mind if I take some of this to go? This is actually the best spaghetti I've ever had."

I laughed. "Sure, I'll get you a box." I grabbed some Tupperware containers and filled them up.

"Thanks, I'm going to check on this case. I can't not be working."

"You know, I think this has been the opposite of what Nathan wanted when he told me to call you. I've got you all awake again."

"I'll tell him I stopped for coffee and it's my fault I'm awake," she said. She left, but before I could even have a moment to myself I got another call.


	4. Chapter 4

I checked caller ID, of course it was my brother. "Duke?" I answered.

"Leila, I need your help." He was whispering.

"Why?"

"Did you not hear me this morning talking to the guy on the boat?"

"No," I told him.

"Were you dead this morning? Speaking of where have you been all day? Come to the restaurant."

"Why are you whispering?" I asked finally.

"Because someone might be coming to kill me!" He snapped.

"What?" I said surprised.

"Could you just get down here?"

"Yeah, I'm coming. It might take me a while to get there, seeing as I have to walk."

"You really need to get a car," Duke said.

I groaned. "Don't die before I get there, alright?" I hung up and left the boat. I was walking along the road when Nathan's truck pulled up next to me.

Audrey rolled down the window. "Where are you going?" She asked.

"The Grey Gull, you?"

"Same, get in." I jumped in the back and leaned forward against the front seats.

"Going to see my brother?" I asked.

"He's a suspect in a murder investigation," Nathan said tightly.

I coughed. "Excuse me? I thought you just said murder investigation. I must have heard you wrong."

Audrey shook her head. "Nathan thinks he's troubled and killed a guy. But since you-"

I cut her off. "Duke's hiding at the restaurant because he thinks some guy is going to come kill him."

"Hiding from Max?" Audrey asked.

"I don't know. Who's Max?" I asked.

"Our dead guy," Audrey said. I glanced at Nathan, his knuckles were turning white he was gripping the steering wheel so hard.

"Are you alright?" I asked him.

"I'm fine," he mumbled. We pulled up outside Duke's restaurant and went in. We found Duke with his gun.

"What are you doing?" I asked him.

"Hiding! I told you that on the phone."

"From Max?" Audrey asked.

"Who else?" He asked. "Mr. Scary circle tattoo man."

"Seriously does someone want to tell me what's going on?" I asked. "Because unlike the rest of you, I just got back into town and I've been left conveniently out of the loop."

"The person who's supposed to kill me has this tattoo, and then this guy shows up on my boat with one this morning," Duke told me.

"Wait how do you know who's going to kill you?" I asked.

"Troubles," they all said in unison.

"Oh ok." I looked at Duke. "Did you kill Max?" I asked.

"If I killed him would I be hiding here with my gun?" He snapped. "Wait, he's dead?"

"According to her," I said pointing towards Audrey.

"I'm pretty sure he didn't kill Max," Audrey said to Nathan. Nathan walked out; I glanced at the others before following him.

"Are you ok?" I asked him "I suggest telling me the truth this time." I shrugged.

"Max was my biological father," Nathan told me.

"Oh wow. How did you find out?"

"He can't feel anything either."

"Troubles really do run in the family," I said to myself. I didn't want to think about it but I really was beginning to wonder if I was actually a Crocker. "That's what happened. Now, are you ok?"

"I don't know."

I wanted to tell him about my trouble but this didn't seem like the right time. "It'll be ok; the Chief is your real family. He loves you." I told him what I would want to hear if it turned out that I wasn't actually related to my brother.

"Nathan we should get going," Audrey said walking out of The Grey Gull. She looked at me, "Don't forget we're going house shopping tomorrow."

I nodded. "See you tomorrow." I walked back inside where Duke was grabbing his coat. "Where are you going?"

"Don't know." He motioned towards Julia, "I'm going with her." He reached into his pocket and tossed me his keys. "Go buy yourself a car."

"Duke your car is backwards," I whined.

"Would you rather walk into town?" He asked reaching for his keys. I snatched my hand back and walked out. I drove to the only dealership in Haven. I really hated Duke's car. I got out and started browsing. It didn't take long to find the car I wanted.

OoOoO

That night I was sitting on the boat eating leftover spaghetti when Duke came in. "Where'd you leave my car?" he asked.

"They let me leave at the dealership; as long as we go pick it up before they open tomorrow."

He nodded and we both walked out to my new car. "What is that?" He asked.

"A car."

"I'm not getting in that," he said, taking a step back.

I laughed. "Why not?"

"Because it's little and cute and if I get in there I will lose all my masculinity."

"It's a Cube, Duke."

"I don't care what it is!"

"Do you want to walk?" I asked.

He sighed. "Fine, I'll get in." I had to admit he did look hilarious sitting in the passenger seat. There was a surprising amount of leg room and the ceiling was high, so Duke didn't look too squished but he looked incredibly uncomfortable.

"I named her Paige."

"You gave her your middle name. I think you have a problem."

"I wouldn't insult me if I were you. I still have the keys to your baby." I patted my pocket as I turned onto the road the dealership was on. I pulled up and I tossed him the keys as he got out.

"Where are you going now?"

"Anywhere I want, I have a car now!" I waved and pulled out of the parking lot. I drove around to get a better look at how much things had changed.

OoOoO

The next morning I slept in and when I woke up I called Audrey to see if she was ready to go by the real estate agent's with me. "Hey," she answered. "Crap, we were supposed to go look at houses. Something came up. Actually a lot of somethings came up."

"That's fine, I'll just go drive my new car around or something," I said. "Do you need any help?" Even though I figured Duke had probably already left, I lowered my voice before adding, "Of the troubled kind?"

"Maybe later, we don't have the guy yet. We also have to make a run by the station to drop off someone. I'll call you if something comes up." We hung up and I looked around the boat for something to do before deciding to go drive again. It had been way too long since I'd owned a car.

I ended up down at the restaurant and I went inside looking for Duke. He was talking to a woman who I wasn't sure if I'd seen around before. She walked past me on her way out. "Who was that?" I asked.

"No one important," he said. "Want something to eat?"

"Yeah, I'm starving." I looked out the window just as people started running inside.

"What's going on?" Duke asked.

"I think it hailing," I said. I walked towards the window and ran into Audrey. "What are you doing here?"

"Trying to catch the guy who caused that." She pointed outside.

"Well, where is he?"

"He ran out before we could catch him."

"Great."

Another woman I'd definitely never seen before walked up. "Oh Leila, this is Audrey," Audrey told me.

"Another Audrey?" I asked.

"Another Audrey _Parker_," Audrey clarified. At my apparent confusion she added, "Don't worry if you're confused, so are we."

"The hail is letting up," Nathan said, coming over to us with Duke.

"We might need you," Audrey said grabbing my arm and pulling me out the car with her.

"What are we dealing with?" I asked her.

"The plagues, from the Bible."

"Like bugs and water turning into blood, that sort of thing?" I asked a little disgusted; I didn't want to get attacked by locust or anything.

She nodded. "Did Duke not tell you about seeing the water turn into blood at the church this morning?" Audrey asked. We all climbed into Nathan's truck. It was a tight squeeze with me, Duke and new Audrey all in the back.

"You were at the church this morning?" I asked Duke.

"Yeah, the Rev wanted to talk to me. You too, but I decided you weren't going."

"Good, I've never liked that guy."

Nathan made a call on his radio for a blockade around the troubled man's house. The voice on the other end told him only the Chief could order that. "Where is the chief?" Duke asked. There was an awkward silence.

"Nathan," Audrey said.

"He died," Nathan said. "He's in the cooler. What we could find of him at least."

Duke glanced into the back end of the truck. "That cooler?" Audrey nodded. "That's normal," he muttered.

As we got closer to the house we realized I realized it was getting dark. "Um, it is only one in the afternoon right?" I asked.

"I think this is the ninth plague," Audrey said.

"What's the tenth?" I asked.

"Death of the first born son," Nathan said. We pulled into a driveway where a bunch of people were waiting, including the Reverend. Before I could get away he had come up to me. "Leila Crocker, good to see you back in Haven. Too bad you came at such an unfortunate time. But you may be helpful in our cause, if you chose the right side that is."

I opened my mouth to make a comment but Duke pushed me aside. "She's not interested and I would appreciate if you left my sister alone." He pulled me to the center of the yard where Nathan was standing.

"Did Audrey go in?" I asked.

He nodded. "Both of them did."

As we waited for something to happen the sky started getting lighter. "The ninth plague is over," I said quietly. It took a moment for anything to happen and at first I thought that it was all over and Audrey had fixed it, but then Nathan fell to his knees. I looked around, he wasn't the only one. I dropped down next to him. "It's going to be ok," I said. He shook his head but didn't say anything. I grabbed him before he fell over and held him tightly. "No, you're going to be fine." I tried to sound sure but I couldn't quite do it, I could hear the hysteria creeping into my voice. I felt a shock and I moved my hand, "Ouch." I mumbled. I figured it was probably static shock but then it happened again until it just started to become a buzz.

He took a deep breath. "What are you doing?" He asked. I glanced around at the others, everyone was still dying. Whatever was happening with Nathan was something I was doing.

"I don't know," I said.

"I can feel it."

"The buzz?" I asked.

"I can feel you," he said, smiling. I almost dropped him at that but then I remembered whatever was happening, I was keeping him from dying right now. I squeezed him harder. His breathing was almost normal now. I don't know how long we stayed like that but at some point Duke lifted me up.

"It's over," Duke told me. He was looking at me really strangely. "Why are you smiling like that?"

"I did something," I told him. Before I could say anything else Audrey was standing next to us.

"Are you alright, Nathan?" She asked.

He nodded and then glanced at me. "I don't know what happened but I think that even if you hadn't fixed TJ, Leila was going to keep me alive."

Audrey turned to look at me. "You can move objects around. You can't heal people."

"Audrey knows?" Duke asked.

"Maybe I can now," I told Audrey, ignoring Duke. "We already established I was different."

"Could we maybe not talk about this in the middle of all these people?" Duke suggested. He pulled me back from the group and I stumbled suddenly feeling light headed.

"I don't feel so great," I mumbled before I dropped.


	5. Chapter 5

When I woke up I was lying in on a couch in Audrey's room at the B&B. "She's awake," Audrey called. Duke, Nathan and new Audrey all came in.

"What happened?" I asked.

"You passed out," Duke said.

"I figured that much out," I said. "Why?" The all looked at each other and shook their heads. "Excellent. How long was I out?"

"More than a day," Nathan said.

"A what?" I asked.

"You didn't miss much," Duke said.

"Just a girl who could make people see their worst fears, but Nathan figured out how to cure her," Audrey told me.

"There's a way to cure troubles?" I asked.

"There was one, he died and took the girl's trouble with him," Nathan told me.

"Oh. Well, I'm hungry. I haven't eaten in more than a day." I stood up with some help from Duke.

"I'll make you something," Duke said. I shook my head.

"Nathan, can I take you up on that offer to have dinner now?" I asked.

"Sounds good," he said.

Duke scowled. "Don't break my little sister again."

"Go home, Duke," I told him. "Ready to go?" I asked Nathan, he nodded and we went out to his truck. I got in the passenger seat and laughed a little.

"What?" He asked.

"Oh nothing. I was just remembering when you first bought this car. That was a fun summer."

"Yes, it was," he said. I glanced over at him; he was staring very intently at the road.

"Now you're thinking about that summer too," I said, smirking.

"Yes, I am."

I laughed. "Did I miss anything besides the troubled girl while I was out?"

"My dad's memorial was this morning."

"Oh, Nathan, I'm so sorry. I wanted to be there."

"It's ok, you couldn't really prevent yourself from passing out. I wish you had gotten to see him again though, he really wanted to see you." He looked out the window. "Oh, are we eating out or in?"

"In, please, I don't want to deal with people right now. Do you want me to cook something? We might need to stop and get some groceries."

"I have stuff to make pancakes," he said.

"Between you and Duke I'm going to get fat, breakfast food is not healthy."

"But it's good," Nathan pointed out.

"Ok, that's a good point. You do have bacon, right?" I asked as we pulled up outside his house.

"Isn't it against the law to eat pancakes without bacon?" Nathan asked.

"I don't know, you're the cop." I gave him a playful shove and I felt the buzz again.

"You probably shouldn't touch me. I think that's why you fainted." He unlocked the door and we went inside. I followed him into the kitchen and he leaned against the counter.

"If it's anything like my other ability, it's like a muscle I need to stretch out. I need to practice a little bit, I can't just do it all at once or I'll pull something, or faint I guess in this example." I reached out and put my hand on top of his, the buzz started again. "You can feel that right?" He nodded. "Then who cares if I faint, I figure you're probably not going to lock me in your fridge or something. I'd think I'd know if you were a psychopath."

"I doubt there's room for you in my fridge, I'd probably go with the hall closet."

"Oh, classy." My stomach growled. "In case you didn't get the hint, I'm starving."

He laughed. "I'll get right on that." He turned to the fridge and I decided I'd try to freak him out, when he turned back around I had the cabinets opened and the bowls and dry ingredients floating towards the counter. "Whoa." I started opening stuff but he snatched things out of the air.

"What are you doing?" I asked laughing.

"I am making you pancakes, you are going to sit down and relax."

"I'm really bad at relaxing," I reminded him.

"Yeah, you might even be worse than Audrey."

"I don't know about that. I think she probably would have started trying to clean Duke's boat if I'd let her."

"Duke's boat is disgusting," Nathan said, shaking his head.

"I know! I could have put her to work for a while. But then I threw a spice jar at her and that was the end of that."

"You did what?"

"Well I didn't really throw it at _her_; I threw it at a cabinet. That little trick with the floating stuff, doesn't always work out quite so well."

"What do you think it is?" He asked. "There has to be a connection between what happened yesterday and you being able to move objects without touching them."

"I was thinking about that. Maybe it has something to do with energy, like I can manipulate it or something? This all started with light bulbs exploding. Then I started being able to move thing. And when I touched you yesterday, when you were dying, I got a little shock. The one shock turned into a lot of tiny ones until it was like a buzz, that's what it feels like every time I touch you now."

"You stopped TJ's trouble from getting to me and then reversed mine."

"Temporally," I reminded him. "Some cure it is if it only works when I'm touching you."

"It's a start." I hopped off the counter and took a step towards him. "What are you doing?"

"Relaxing got boring." I put my hand on his arm and walked my fingers up to his neck. He was trying to pour the pancakes and I waited until he was finished before I tugged him around to face me. I kissed him and push him back into the counter.

"Ouch," he mumbled. Both of our eyes widened.

"You felt that?" I asked. I took a step back and he tried to touch the spoon he'd been using earlier, nothing. Then I grabbed his hand and he tried again.

"I can feel it."

"What's going on?" I asked.

"I don't know. You should probably sit down, you're looking pale."

I waited at the table until Nathan brought me pancakes. "Thanks," I said.

"Are you ok?" He asked when he came back with his plate.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I'm not going to faint again or anything. I guess I have to take baby steps."

"That was the first time I've been able to feel anything, besides people."

"I'm not the only person you can feel?" I asked.

"No, I can feel Audrey too. But she can't make me feel objects too."

"She also doesn't faint after she touches you. I'm double troubled." I took a bite of my pancakes. He'd put chocolate chips on mine, only the two people I knew the best did that. "I don't think Duke is my brother."

"Of course he is."

"No, Nathan, he's not troubled."

"We've run into family where only one of the kids is troubled. Or maybe Duke's hasn't been triggered yet."

I bit my lip. "Yeah, I'm sure your right."

"It wouldn't matter, if you found out you weren't related. Family is a lot more than just being related to someone. Nothing can erase a whole lifetime of memories like that."

I nodded. "I still wish there was some way I could find out. I want to know, even if it doesn't change anything." I sighed and took another bite of my pancakes. "I need a house," I groaned.

"Oh, I found this." He got up and went to grab the Haven Herald and flipped to one of the last pages. "That house is for sale."

"That's the house I wanted when I was in high school!" The house was pretty big, situated in the perfect location not too far from downtown and had a beautiful view of the ocean.

"You talked about that house all the time."

"I said that I was going to offer the owners whatever they wanted to buy it from them. I can't believe they're selling it. I'm going to call and see what they're asking for it. Will you come with me when I go see it?"

"What about Audrey?" He asked.

She wasn't the one I used to say I was going to move into that house with, I thought to myself. "She already blew me off once," I said laughing.

"You think I'm more reliable?"

"Probably not." My phone rang; of course it was my brother. "Duke, I'm busy."

"Well at least you aren't dead," he responded. "I didn't call in the middle of-"

"Do you need something?"

"I have to take the boat out early tomorrow morning, so you might want to be on it. Or you could stay over there…"

"_Duke._"

"Right, ok. Well unless you have somewhere else to stay."

"What time is it?" I looked at my phone, it was almost midnight. "Wow, was it really that late when I woke up?"

"You woke up at nine so, yeah."

"Only I would be eating pancakes at midnight."

"My waffles are better," Duke mumbled.

"I'll be back in a little while. Where are we going anyway?" I asked ignoring his commentary.

"I'll tell you when you get back."

I hung up and sighed. "You see why I need my own house?"

He smiled, "I guess I should take you back before Duke calls the police."

I laughed. "Audrey would have to come looking for me." We cleaned up the mess and then went out to Nathan's truck. "You can drop me off at The Gull, my car is still there." When we pulled up Nathan got out and walked me over to my car. "We should do this again sometime. I'll cook though, in my new house."

"Tell me what the owners say when you call them," Nathan said.

"Definitely." I was about to kiss him but before I could do anything he started walking back to his truck. I got in my car trying to figure out what just happened.

OoOoO

When I woke up I realized the boat was moving and so I got dressed quickly and went upstairs. Duke had been conveniently missing when I got back and I'd been much too tired to wait up for him. The new Audrey was sitting in my favorite chair on deck. "Hey, other Audrey."

"You know I'm the only Audrey here, you could just call me Audrey," she said.

"Where's my brother?"

"I don't know? Steering or something would be my guess."

"Oh, right."

"So you aren't dead."

"Obviously not," I said leaning against the wall.

"I saw you faint outside TJ's house. What happened?"

"Troubles," I told her. She looked suddenly interested. "It's a long story."

"We have a while till we get there," she said.

"Let me go find Duke and I'll come back." I left and found Duke, as Audrey said, steering the boat.

"Well, sleeping beauty finally decided to join us," Duke said when I opened the door.

"How'd you know it was me and not other Audrey?"

"You know you're not the most graceful person, right? You sort of walk with the grace off a large herd of elephants. I figured out it was you pretty fast."

"Rude," I said, punching him lightly on the arm.

"You did sleep later than normal. Are you still feeling bad?"

"No, not from what happened before I passed out. I think whatever it is I'm doing now is seriously draining my energy though; I mean I didn't try to heal someone this time."

"What is it then? You can heal troubles?"

"I don't know, I guess." I shook my head. "Everyone keeps asking me questions I don't have the answers to. Audrey wants to know why I'm different and if I can help, you and Nathan want to know what I can do; other Audrey wants to know too. I don't know. I just don't." I leaned back into the wall.

"Hey, we'll figure it out."

"I know." I tried to sound like I believed it. "I just wish I was normal, like you." Duke hugged me but I shrugged him off and walked back upstairs.


	6. Chapter 6

When I got up on deck I saw other Audrey still sitting there. "Being on a boat is relaxing, don't you think?"

"It is." I looked out at the view.

"How was your date last night?" She asked.

I looked over my shoulder. "How'd you know about that?"

"Audrey," she said with a shrug.

"Right." I sat down on one of the boxes on deck. "I don't know, I thought it was going great. We made pancakes and we talked about my trouble and at one point I kissed him and he didn't seem to have a problem with that-"

"But he can't feel anything, right?"

"Well, just me and Audrey. And other stuff if I'm touching him." She nodded as if she knew exactly what I was talking about; she was handling the troubles pretty well for a newbie. "Anyways, before I got in my car I was going to kiss him again, but he just left."

"Maybe he's still a little upset, about what happened before you moved."

I tilted my head in confusion. "How much did Audrey tell you?"

"Everything she knew I suppose."

"How does Audrey know about what happened before I moved?"

"Nathan probably, or maybe Duke."

"Duke wouldn't have told her. I didn't realize she and Nathan were that close. I told him why I left, that Duke pushed me to go. He brushed it off when I told him."

"Maybe that's not it then, what do I know? I barely know you people."

"Maybe he's in love with Audrey too," I mumbled.

"_Too_? As in someone else is in love with Audrey?"

"My brother," I told her. "For someone who seems to know so much I'm surprised you didn't figure it out."

"What I don't understand is why you never came back or called or anything. You just vanished."

"I did come back," I corrected her.

"Audrey didn't say anything about that."

"I did. I came back after I graduated. I had just gotten offered a job with National Geographic and they wanted to send me to Sri Lanka for a few months right away. I came home because I wanted to talk to Nathan about it. The Chief told me that he was out on a case and that he didn't want to see me anyway. I took that as my cue to leave. After that job I got more and now here I am four years later. As for why I didn't call, I was eighteen and I was stupid and I regretted it after I finished school but by then it was too late."

"Maybe you should be telling Nathan that instead of me."

"You're right, I should. You know, other Audrey, I think I may like you more than I thought I would."

"Thanks, I think."

"We're here. Why did you want Duke to bring you here anyway?" I asked.

"It's a long story; I'll tell you when I get back." She stood up and went downstairs. I could hear her talking to Duke below and then a few minutes later he was standing next to me.

"Did you two bond?" He asked jokingly.

"Surprisingly yes. She's a good listener so it works out."

"Because you talk a lot." I gave him a shove and he laughed. "I told her she had two hours until I was coming to get her."

"What's out there?" I asked.

He shook his head. "I don't know."

"I'm sleepy," I mumbled.

"You slept in."

"Yeah, I know. I think this is just me needing coffee," I told him.

"Come on, let's go get some." We walked back down below deck and he put a pot of coffee on. "So I was thinking, I want you to come work at the Gull."

"Didn't you already tell me I worked there until I got my own place? Because Nathan and I are going to look at the old house I always wanted sometime this week."

"No, I mean come work as a chef."

"You want me to cook?"

He nodded. "You're a good cook and you like making up your own recipes. Audrey went on about your spaghetti sauce for at least five minutes while you were passed out. We can put spaghetti on the menu, and that garlic butter pasta you make."

"I make good burgers too, the stuffed ones and the regular kind," I added.

"You do! See, you have to come work for me."

"I'll think about it," I told him, but we both knew I would say yes.

"Wait rewind, you found a house?"

"Yeah, remember that house I used to tell you I was going to buy one day?"

"That's the old grey one with the shingles?"

"That's the one. I'm finally buying it."

"That place is huge; it's three stories or something. What are you going to do with that much room?"

"I don't know, throw a party or something?" I pulled the coffee off and poured myself a cup.

"Didn't you tell me once that you and Nathan were going to buy that house together?" He asked.

I shrugged. "Well it's for sale now, it might not be later." Before he could make another comment about Nathan, I changed the subject. "I think you should ask Audrey out."

"Audrey Parker? The blonde one?"

"Yes, the blonde one."

"Why would I do that?"

I laughed. "Because I know you like her and so do you, and so does other Audrey, at least now that I told her she does."

"You told brunette Audrey I liked blonde Audrey."

"I may not have used those exact words."

"Leila."

"Duke." We could go like this all day, but I wasn't really interested in his sad attempts at trying to get me off his back. "You could cook her dinner at the Gull. Or better yet _I _could cook both of you dinner at the Gull! Then you wouldn't have to do anything but talk to Audrey. You said yourself, Audrey really likes my spaghetti."

"I doubt she'd say yes, even if I did ask her."

"She's going to say yes, trust me."

"I'll think about it," he said. I grinned; I knew he was going to do it. We walked back up deck and I sat cross legged on one of the boxes. "You still have a problem with chairs?"

"I don't have a problem with chairs, I'm just incredibly picky."

"So you'd rather sit on an old box?" I shrugged in response.

"So who was that girl at the bar, the one you told me was nobody?"

"Like I said, nobody."

"Duke, I can tell when you're lying. You should know that by now."

He sighed. "Her name is Evi. I was dating her while you were gone, we're in the same line of work-"

"Meaning you both smuggle things."

"I never told you I was still doing that."

I shrugged. "I know a lot more than you think. Anyways, continue."

"We got married."

I choked on my coffee. "You're married?"

"I have a daughter too, but that's a story for another time." He checked his phone. "Audrey should be back by now."

"Duke! This conversation is not over!" I yelled after him as he left the boat. I thought about running after him but I hadn't put on good shoes for trekking around a muddy island and he'd be gone before I could run and change them. I grabbed my phone out of my pocket and realized I didn't have a signal. That was one of my least favorite things about Haven, unless you were in the middle of downtown, you probably never had a signal. It wasn't much longer before I heard voices. "Did you find other Audrey?" I called. I wasn't sure I'd ever be able to drop the "other" from Audrey's name. Duke didn't respond so I got up and waited until they both came up.

"Who are you?" She asked. She glanced at Duke confused.

"This is my little sister," Duke told her. I looked between the both of them trying to figure out what was going on. I started to open my mouth but Duke shook his head. "Leila, Audrey's cold, could you grab a blanket."

"Yeah, sure." I ran downstairs and grabbed the first blanket I saw. When I turned to go back upstairs Duke was waiting for me. "What's going on?" I asked.

"I found her like that, totally confused. She had no idea who she was or what she was doing out there."

"Is someone else's trouble causing it?" I asked. "If it is I can cure her, at least for long enough for her to tell us what happened."

"I don't know, maybe." I followed him back on deck and sat down next to Audrey. I handed her the blanket and then grabbed her hand.

"Audrey, is there anything you remember about what happened in there? Was there another person, or did you see anything weird?" I waited for the sparks, to show me that it was working.

She shook her head. "I don't know, I really can't remember anything, I'm sorry."

I pulled my hand away. "It's alright. We're going to take you back to Haven, ok? We'll find out what happened to you, I promise." Duke left to get us moving and I stayed with Audrey.

"Were you friends with me?" She asked.

I nodded. "Yeah, I haven't known you very long but we're friends."

"I'm sorry I don't remember you," she said.

"It's not your fault."

"I think that if you had been the one to lose your memories, I would be sad too."

I smiled. "We're going to get you fixed and then we'll be friends again."

"What was I like?" She asked.

"Well, you were bossy." She smiled. "But you were always right, so it didn't really matter that you were bossy."

"Always being right sounds nice," she said quietly.

"You were brave too, braver than me. I have a hard time talking to people and you finally convinced me that I needed to get over that."

"You don't seem to have a problem talking to me," she noted.

"You knew a lot about me, so I didn't have to talk so much a listen and answer your questions. Plus you probably wouldn't have left me alone, you were bossy remember."

She smiled then and almost laughed. "We would've been good friends."

"Yeah. We're going to be," I told her.

She grabbed my hand. "I don't think my memories are going to come back, at least not anytime soon."

"They will," I said. I wasn't sure if I was trying to convince her or myself. I could feel tears bubbling up in my eyes.

"Hey, you're going to be ok." The tables had turned and now instead of me being the one trying to calm her down, she was reassuring me. "You are brave, you'll do whatever you need to do and you'll figure out what's going on here. You have that brother who loves you more than anything else, I can tell. He'll help you and you're friends will help you. You'll get my memories back and then I'll come back and boss you around some more, alright?"

I nodded. "You're still pretty bossy, even now." We both laughed and I wiped my eyes. "Sorry, about crying. I don't cry all that much."

A tear fell down her cheek and she looked bewildered as to why she'd be crying over someone she didn't even know. "One day we'll be friends."

"Yeah." I hugged her; this whole day had just been completely out of character for me. Me, who didn't like people, who only had two close friends my entire life including my brother. I had somehow managed to let someone in enough in just a few short hours, and now they were gone. I remembered why I didn't like people, people always leave.

"We're here," Duke said coming up the stairs. I released Audrey and we both stood up. Nathan and blonde Audrey were waiting down on the dock; Duke must have finally been able to get a signal. We walked off the ship with Audrey and the other two came up to talk to her. "Are you alright?" Duke asked me.

"Yeah, fine, I'm all good." Duke hugged me and rubbed circles on my back.

"I can tell when you're lying too."


	7. Chapter 7

I didn't spend much time out and about Haven for the next week. I mostly stayed in the restaurant or on Duke's boat working on the new menu or just sleeping. My phone rang one day when I was doing the latter and I sat up and started looking for it. It had gotten tossed under the bed at some point and by the time I finally fished it out I was entirely woken up. "Hello?" I answered without checking caller ID.

"Hey, Leila," answered the voice on the other end.

"Nathan," I said. I hadn't seen him in a few days and hearing his voice was nice. "What's up?"

"I'm going to take Audrey to the little league game. Do you want to come with us?"

"Is the big game today?" Time had been moving a lot faster than I'd realized.

"Yep, so you want us to come pick you up?"

"Yeah, sure. See you in a little bit." I hung up and went and got dressed. I glanced in the mirror and groaned. I grabbed my concealer and tried to cover up my under eye circles. Despite the fact that I had been sleeping a lot, I hadn't really been getting a lot of rest. I tossed on a bit of blush and a sweep of mascara and decided that was about as good as I was going to get today.

When Nathan and Audrey pulled up I ran out to meet them and hopped in the back of the Bronco. "Haven't seen you in a while," Audrey said. In the last week she had moved into the apartment above The Grey Gull but I'd managed to never be there at the same time she was.

"Been busy," I answered.

"Duke said you're redoing the menu for the restaurant. Are you adding spaghetti?"

I laughed. "Yes, there will be spaghetti, among other things."

It wasn't too far to the baseball park and we got there pretty quickly. The three of us walked up to the bleachers and sat down in an empty place. I sat in between Nathan and Audrey. "Did you call the owners of that house?" Nathan asked.

"Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you. They want me to stop by tomorrow morning, if I can, to take a look around. You're still coming with me, right?"

"Yeah, if you still want me to."

"I do." I smiled and then turned to talk to Audrey. My shoulder brushed Nathan's and I felt him pull away from me. "So, you haven't been to a little league game here yet?"

Audrey shook her head. "Nope. Aren't the only people that come to these games parents?"

I laughed. "Not in Haven. We take the kids' sports seriously, seeing as there aren't any _real_ teams around here."

"Something tells me you aren't a huge baseball fan."

I shushed her. "Don't say that so loudly, I don't want to be lynched!" She laughed. "But seriously, I could care less about sports. Which is odd because I was a cheerleader in high school."

She snorted and then when I didn't laugh she stared at me. "You're serious?"

I nodded. "Biggest mistake of my high school career."

"I cannot imagine that at all."

"I'm not sure how it happened. There were three Leila's in high school; Duke's Leila that was always up to something, Nathan's Leila who liked going to museums and reading – the total opposite of Duke's version, and then there was the Leila that somehow ended up on the cheerleading squad. I must have has split personalities, those three clashed a lot."

"Which one are you now?" She asked curious.

"Obviously I'm not the cheerleader anymore." I shuddered. "That was a dark time. I guess I'm a little of the first two though."

Audrey flipped her hair and did the cheerleader clap. "Ready? Ok!" She said in her most peppy voice.

"Stop! You're giving me horrible flashbacks!" We both collapsed into giggles.

"What are two going on about?" Nathan asked.

"Cheerleading," I groaned. Audrey and I had been so distracted that we hadn't even noticed the game had started. "What happened?" I asked Nathan. The umpire was arguing with the coaches.

"Bad call on our team," Nathan told me. I shrugged and started to turn back to Audrey when the other team started saying that the call was bad too.

"Why would they be cheering for the call to be overturned? It helped them," I said confused.

Audrey shrugged. "Maybe they wanted it to be fair?"

I looked at her skeptically. "You really don't understand sports do you?" She shrugged. The umpire finally agreed to overturn the call and suddenly the lights exploded. People started screaming and ran for cover. Nathan, Audrey and I followed them out. "What just happened?"

Nathan shrugged. "Don't know; guess I need to find out." He reached into his pocket and pulled out his keys. "Go on home, I'll get the car back tomorrow when we go look at the house." I grabbed the keys and smiled. He and my brother were a little too obsessed with their cars; it was rare that anyone got to drive them, well anyone besides me that is.

"I guess I'll pick you up tomorrow then," I told him. I turned and went off to the truck.

OoOoO

The next morning when I went into the kitchen area to get some coffee Duke was waiting for me. "Where is he?" Duke asked looking behind me.

"Huh?"

"I know we're close and everything, but it would be nice if you would warn me before you bring a guy home. Especially I guy I know."

"Duke, what are you talking about?"

"Nathan's truck is parked outside."

I started laughing. "Duke, he gave me a ride to the game yesterday and after those lights exploded he gave me his truck and told me to go home. Nathan is not on your boat now and he wasn't earlier either."

"Oh. Ok."

"Now if you don't mind, I want to make some coffee and go pick up Nathan."

"Are you two back together?" He asked.

"Not yet. He's going with me to look at the house. Hopefully I'll be able to move out of here by the end of the week." I added some milk to my coffee and some caramel syrup and then went back to my room to get ready. I grabbed my cell and called Nathan. "Hey, I'm about to leave. Are you at home still?"

"Leila, something came up. The mayor was electrocuted and I need to go look into it."

Before I could answer I heard Audrey's voice on the other end talking to Nathan. "I can handle this by myself, go with her. Buy her lunch while you're at it. I'll call if I need you."

"You sure, Parker?" Nathan asked her.

"One hundred percent."

"Looks like Audrey has got it covered, I'm at the station," Nathan said to me.

"I'll see you in a little bit." I hung up and finished getting dressed. I grabbed a hair tie out of my drawer and braided my hair into a messy fishtail braid as I walked out to Nathan's truck. "Bye, Duke!" I called. If he answered I didn't hear him. I got in the driver's seat, tied my hair off and put the key in the ignition.

Fifteen minutes later I was pulling up outside the police station. I parked on the curb and ran in to find Nathan. I hadn't been in here since I'd been back in Haven but it hadn't changed a bit. I waved at a couple of the officers I knew and pushed open the door marked "Chief Wuornos"

"Ready to go, chief?" I asked. He glanced up from his desk and smiled.

"Interim chief," he corrected me. I shrugged and motioned for him to hurry up. We went out to his truck and I gave him back his keys.

"Your precious truck is fine, in case you were wondering."

"I figured." We got in and he drove to the house.

"It's so pretty," I said as it came into view. He parked in the circular driveway behind a car that must have belonged to the owners. An elderly couple got out when we pulled up and walked toward us.

"Dave and Patricia Bar," the man said introducing them. He shook both of our hands. "You're the woman I talked to on the phone, I assume. Leila, was it?" I nodded.

"This is a great home to raise a family in; we raised all three of our kids here," Patricia told us. "Do you two have any kids yet?"

"Oh, no, we're not married. We're just friends."

"Oh I'm sorry, I just assumed. You would have beautiful children, your hair is so lovely and he has such nice eyes." She chuckled. "Don't mind me; I'm just a silly old woman."

"Its fine," I assured her. I left out that I'd had the exact same thoughts at one point.

"Well let's give you a tour," Dave said, motioning us inside. The foyer was a lovely green-blue color, like sea foam, one of my favorite colors, and had a staircase leading to the second floor. There was a nice living room with a large shelf already built into one wall.

"There are seven fireplaces," Patricia told me. "This house was built before we had thermostats."

"It was built in 1910, right?" I asked.

She nodded. "You've been looking into it for a while, haven't you?"

"I decided I was going to live here back when I was in high school, it's beautiful." They led us to the back of the house and I gasped. "Look at this porch, Nathan." I grabbed his arm. He didn't pull away, which I decided was a step up from before. The porch was a huge and glass enclosed with a stunning view of the ocean. "I've never seen the back before," I told Patricia.

"This is my favorite room in the whole house; we used to have dinner out here because the view is so nice," she told me. We were led through the rest of the house but it didn't matter, I was already sold. "Should we call and see if we can't get this house sold?" Patricia asked her husband. She smiled at me. "We already drew up the papers."

"How did you know I'd buy it?" I asked.

"I know things." She winked at me.

"Shouldn't we check and see if things work?" Nathan asked.

"Why don't we let the boys handle all of that, let's go sit on the porch," Patricia said. We walked back to the porch and sat on the back steps leading down to the yard. The couple has moved out a few months ago so there wasn't any furniture left. "Nathan seems like a nice man."

"He is," I confirmed.

"You two are going to have a nice life together," she said. I started to remind her we weren't together but she held up a finger to silence me. "It won't be easy, there's a lot that will happen, but you will have a nice life."

"You're troubled," I said.

She nodded and smiled softly. "And you're gifted."

"Gifted?" I asked. "What does that mean?"

She shook her head. "I'm not sure. I don't pick up on everything, just bits and pieces. That's how I knew you would want to buy my house, I've known for a while. That's why I had us move out a few months back, you aren't our first offer but you're the only one we'll sell to."

"Why? What's so important about the house?"

"It's in the pictures I see of your future; I knew you'd need it. And him, you're going to need Nathan." I glanced into the living room through the porch doors and saw Nathan working with Dave, he looked up at about the same time and our eyes met. I smiled at him and he smiled back.

Patricia patted my hands. "Good luck." She stood up and walked back to her husband. Nathan walked over and offered me a hand to stand up, it was the first time he'd initiated contact since we found out what I could do. I grabbed his hand and smiled at him.

"Ready to go, Crocker?"

"Not if you're going to start calling me Crocker, I'm not. I'm not your partner; you do not get to call me by my last name."

He smiled. "Ready to go, _Leila_?"

"Yes, Nathan, I am." We walked to the foyer and Patricia handed me a pile of papers. I signed where it was needed and then grabbed my check book from my purse and wrote them a check for the down payment.

"Everything else is already set up," she told me. "It's yours."

"Thanks so much," I told her.

She took my hand again. "Now, go make those memories."

"I will." I nodded and she gave me a hug.

"Stay away from the tattooed people," she whispered into my ear. I stepped back looking surprised and she pointed to the pile of papers I was holding. "Make sure you don't lose any of that," she said with a smile.

"Thanks again. It was nice to meet the two of you." Nathan and I left and got into his car.

"What was that back there?" He asked.

"Patricia is troubled; she can see the future I guess. She told me I was "gifted" not troubled."

"What does that mean?" Nathan asked.

"I have no idea."

"Did she tell you anything else?"

I thought about telling him how she said that we were going to have a nice life together, but decided against it. "She told me to stay away from the tattooed people." I flipped through the papers she had given me and found a blank piece of notebook paper; I flipped it over and gasped. "It's the tattoo." A drawing of the maze-like circle with four small people was on the back side of the paper.

"The tattoo that whoever is going to kill Duke will have," Nathan said.

"Are they trying to kill me too?" I asked.

Nathan looked at me. "I won't let that happen." He grabbed my hand and squeezed. "Now, Audrey told me I should take you to lunch. Where do you want to go?"


	8. Chapter 8

Nathan and I went to a small diner downtown. It had the best mac n' cheese, even I couldn't top it. We sat down and ordered and while we were waiting I thought about my conversation with other Audrey before she'd lost her memory.

"Nathan, I've wanted to talk to you."

"You're talking to me right now," he said.

"I mean, I wanted to talk to you about when I left."

"We talked about it, it's alright, really."

I shook my head. "I don't think it is. I kissed you the other day and I'm pretty sure you kissed me back but since then you've barely wanted anything to do with me. Other Audrey thought you were still upset."

"Other Audrey knew what happened between us?" He asked.

"Apparently someone told our Audrey and she told her brain twin. I'll give you a hint, I didn't tell."

"Yeah, that was me. Sorry."

I waved it off. "Its fine, she actually helped me with some things. You know I came back, don't you? Because other Audrey didn't."

"When?"

"After I graduated I came back to Haven before I took that job in Sri Lanka. I wanted to talk to you because, well, we were engaged to be engaged before I ran off to New York. I wanted to know if you would take me back. I went to the station and your dad told me you didn't want to see me."

"He never told me you came. Of course I would have wanted to see you."

"Why wouldn't he tell you?"

"I don't know, my dad loved you. I'm pretty sure the only reason he kept me around was because he thought I'd marry you some day and you'd be part of the family."

"Then why did he send me away?"

He shook his head. Our food came and we both ate for a minute. "I would have told you to go."

"Really?" I asked.

"You said yourself leaving Haven gave you a whole new appreciation for it. If I had asked you to stay you would have ended up resenting me for it. Leaving was what you needed." I grabbed his hand on the table and interlaced my fingers with his. He looked at our hands and then his other hand reached for his glass and he touched the condensation on the outside, he ran his fingers across the smooth table. I smiled at the way his face lit up when he touched something different.

I didn't want to think it but there as a little voice in the back of my head asking "What if he only wants you for what you can do?" I tried to push it out of my mind but it was there nagging. I tapped my foot against his leg without thinking and he looked up.

"Drumming again?" He asked. I smiled though I could tell by his expression that it must not have touched my eyes.

"Ready to go?" I asked. He stood up and I grabbed his wallet.

"What are you doing?" He asked.

"Leaving a tip," I told him flipping it open.

"Out of my wallet?"

"Who else's? I think the guy at the next table might be a little upset if I tried to use his." I grinned and grabbed the wad of bills to fish out some ones. A napkin fell out of the pocket and Nathan started to reach for it. I snatched it before he could get to it. I flipped it open, "Oh," I murmured in surprise. "You kept this?"

Written in my curly, slanted handwriting was "_I love you, – L" _

"Yeah, I kept it." I dropped a few bills on the table and walked out still holding the napkin. We stopped next to his truck.

"Why?"

"When you left I thought it was my fault. I thought I could show it to you and you'd realize that I really do love you."

"You kept it for years," I said. I handed it back to him and he put it back in his wallet. "You don't need it anymore," I told him. "I'll tell you I love you whenever you want to hear it."

He wrapped one of his arms around my waist and I tipped my head up to look at him. "How about now?"

I smiled, I'd forgotten any doubts I had a few moments ago. "I love you, Nathan Wuornos." I pressed my lips to his and moved my hands to his neck.

He broke the kiss and looked at me. "I love you too, Leila Crocker."

"Good, because I'm not done." I kissed him again and leaned back against his truck my shirt rode up a bit and I could feel his hands on my bare skin.

"Oh god!" Exclaimed someone. "I'm scarred for life!" I pulled away from Nathan and saw Duke and the woman from the Gull, Duke's wife, standing a few feet away.

"What are you doing here, Duke?" I asked.

"We were just downtown on an errand and I saw Nathan's truck, I thought I'd check up on you. And then, that!" He pointed at us. Evi was laughing.

"Nice to meet you," I said to her. "You're Duke's wife, right? I'm his little sister, Leila."

She smiled. "Nice to meet you, he's told me a lot about you."

"Well he's told me nothing about you. Maybe we should have a chat sometime," I suggested.

"I'd like that," she said.

"I wouldn't!" Duke interjected. Evi and I both held up our hands and shushed him at the same time. "Great, now I have two of them!"

"Have fun with that," Nathan told Duke. "I need to get back to work, Leila."

"Yeah, I'll get a ride home with these two." I kissed him and Duke made another gagging sound. "Bye." Nathan got in his truck and drove off, leaving me with Duke and my newfound sister-in-law.

"So I asked this morning if you two were dating, pretty sure you said no," Duke said,

"That was this morning. A lot of things can happen in a few hours. And I did say _yet_, so you should've figured out it was going to happen eventually."

Duke sighed. "Did you look at the house?"

"I bought it!" I said waving the stack. I noticed the notebook paper hanging out and remembered what else I had found out, I stopped smiling. "Do you think we could go back to the bar and celebrate?" I glanced at Evi who looked interested in my change in expression. "Um, no offense, I just met you Evi. I'd rather just hang out with my brother alone today."

She smiled though I could see in her eyes she was a little annoyed. "Yeah, I totally understand. Duke can just drop me off at the B&B where I'm staying." I got in the passenger seat of Duke's car, which didn't make Evi any happier. She didn't say much on the drive and she got out without telling us goodbye.

"What was that?" Duke asked me.

"I don't trust her," I said simply.

"Neither does I, but what does that have to do with us celebrating your new house? We are celebrating right? Don't tell me this another one of your schemes and you're actually about to drag me into the woods to catch a deer."

"That was _one_ time Duke. And we did celebrate, albeit unconventionally. Also it was a goat; we went to a farm not the woods."

"What are we doing tonight?" He asked with a sigh.

"We are going to celebrate. But there's also something I need to tell you, something I didn't want Evi to hear."

"What-"

"Would you wait two minutes until we get inside?" He pulled up outside the restaurant and he got out and unlocked the front door. We went in and he started to grab things to make something fruity for me. "Not today, just give me whatever you're drinking." He poured some whisky and I downed the first glass.

"Alright, what's got you so wigged out, you're drinking straight alcohol? Because you don't do that."

"This." I pulled out the drawing of the tattoo and showed it to him.

"Where did you get this?" He asked.

"The woman who owned my house is troubled. She can see the future, well bits and pieces. She told me that she knew I was going to buy her house and also some stuff about Nathan. Then she told me I was gifted not troubled, whatever that means. Before I left she told me to stay away from the tattooed people and I found this drawing in with the official documents."

"Are they after you too?" He asked.

"I don't know."I downed another glass.

"Why are they after us?" Duke asked.

"Maybe it has something to do with me being gifted?" I suggested.

"But I'm not! I'm just regular old Duke Crocker."

"Could be you try to protect me and get yourself killed."

"Well if that's in then that's not going to change, if someone is coming after you I'm going to protect you."

"Duke, don't get yourself killed because of me."

He shook his head. "We'll figure it out, all of it."

OoOoO

The next day I decided to drive over to the police station to see Nathan. I stopped and got some coffee, a caramel white mocha for me and a boring latte for Nathan. I pulled up outside the station and parked my Cube. I grabbed the coffees and went inside. I bumped the door to Nathan's office open with my hip. "Audrey I thought you-" he glanced up and smiled when he saw me. "Hi."

"I brought you coffee." I handed him his. I cleared a spot on his desk and sat down facing him.

"Has it cooled down?" He asked.

"Why don't you test it out?" I grabbed his hand so he'd be able to feel it.

He took a sip. "It cooled down," he informed me. I laughed. "What?"

"You're so cute. Every time you get to touch something new your eyes get all wide and you look so happy."

"It's been a long time since I've gotten to touch anything," he said with a shrug. I ran one of my hands through his hair and smiled.

"I know. It's still cute."

"When are you moving into your house?" He asked.

"I have some people bringing in the furniture I had in storage tomorrow. I also ordered a ton of stuff from IKEA, which should get here by the end of next week. I'm probably going to start sleeping there in a couple of days once I get some boxes unpacked."

"If you need any help putting that weird IKEA furniture together you can call me."

"I was planning on it. You, me, Duke and Audrey can have a furniture building party." I groaned. "Ugh I forgot about Duke's stupid wife!"

Nathan laughed. "Did something happen? Because you two seemed to be getting along fine before I left yesterday."

"I don't trust her. And anyways, I was trying to set Duke and Audrey up. I can't exactly do that if he's married can I?"

"Duke and Audrey. Our Audrey? Short, blonde hair, that Audrey?"

"Why is that everyone's reaction? Yes, that Audrey!"

"She's on a date with Chris Brody."

"You have got to be kidding me!" I groaned and then suddenly looked up at him.

"I know that look. That's your "I have an idea" look. I've never liked that look."

"Are you done?"

"One time that look got a sheep stuck in Ms. Charles's room."

"Goat. It was a goat." I rolled my eyes. Before I could launch into a plan about how I wanted to get rid of Evi and Chris, the radio came on. Probably for the best, I didn't tend to think too well when I was on caffeine.

Nathan got up and walked over to the radio. "Hello?"

"Nathan? It's Dave," came a voice through the radio.

"And Vince!"

"Why are you two calling me on the radio?" Nathan asked.

"We were on the way to go take those photos for the paper and our van broke down," Vince said.

"There's no cell signal," Dave added.

Nathan sighed. "We should go," I told him.

"Leila and I will be there as soon as we can."

"Leila?" The both asked at the same time.

"You're with Leila?" Vince asked. There were some mumbling sounds that I couldn't understand over the radio.

"Goodbye," Nathan said hanging up. "Let's go." We went out and got in his truck.

"I'm not really sure why I bought a car. I hardly ever use it," I said. We drove out to a road in the middle of nowhere. The Teagues' van was pulled over to the shoulder and Nathan parked across the road from them.

"This should only take a second," he told me. He got out and walked over to their van. He disappeared inside and I decided to get out of truck and stretch. While I was walking around the truck I felt something brush my ankle. I glanced down to see a vine. I kicked it away and walked around to the other side of the truck.

"Leila, watch out!" Dave yelled. I glance down and saw several more vines moving across the ground towards me. I screamed and ran towards the van.

"Open the door!" Nathan yelled. Dave pushed the door open and I leaped into the van. I tumbled across the seat and into the floor where I landed on my wrist, my shoulder made a sickening pop as it was jarred upwards. I screamed again, this time in pain. Vince tried to move me but Nathan stopped them. "Careful, I think she dislocated her shoulder." He touched my arm. "Moving you is going to hurt."

I tried to say something but all that came out was a groan. He nodded and had the brothers get a hold on my middle to turn me and slide me into the back. I moaned as my shoulder moved. I looked out the window; the van was being encased with vines. "We need to get her shoulder back into place before we try to get out of here," Nathan told them.

"I don't like pain," I managed to get out through clenched teeth.

"I know," he said his mouth close to my ear. He slid me in front of him. He helped me bend my elbow in to a 90-degree angle and then turned my arm to go across my middle. "Do you want me to give you a count, or just do it?" He asked.

"Do it," I told him. I squeezed my eyes closed hoping that I wouldn't cry. He grabbed my arm and pulled it the opposite direction quickly. The pop was loud enough it seemed to echo and I screamed again. It began to feel better almost instantly after it was back into place. He massaged my shoulder carefully.

"Is the radio still working?" Nathan asked the brothers.

"The antenna broke off," Vince said.

"Where are the emergency supplies?" I asked. Dave gestured to a box under the passenger seat and I slid it out with my good arm. Nathan took it from me and opened it, there wasn't much inside but there were some flares. "I have an idea."

Nathan realized what I was thinking and grabbed the flares. "Open the door," he instructed Dave. Dave opened the door and Nathan lit one of the flares. As I had thought, the plants moved away from the flares. We were able to get out of the van and into the bronco. Nathan turned the car on and we were able to get out of there. "How's your shoulder?"

"Much better."

"We should take you to the hospital to make sure." I nodded. Being in pain takes a lot out of a girl and I was starting to doze off. The last thing I remembered was one of the brothers folding up their jackets for me to use as a pillow and Nathan rubbing circles on my thigh before I fell asleep.


End file.
